Weeding flower beds abs watching the blue tits flying in and out of the bird box in the pergola trying to feed their voracious chicks

Once the chicks hatch they need to be fed up to 100 caterpillars a day each! No wonder they quadruple in size. After 3 weeks they are ready to fledge. I have given the cats strict instructions to leave well alone and even put collars with bells on their necks to warn the birds of their possible attacks. Click below

One lot goes another arrives, all day long.

She arrived just as J snd I had made our weekly bee hive inspections. The queens are laying, there is plenty of capped brood, larvae and grubs and emerging bees are visible and there are plenty of honey stores. We put one super on top of hive number one. In half an hour another friend will collect rhubarb snd probably meet the kids and in between I have a piece of writing I promised to read and comment on for one of the writing group. J brought in a perfect cauliflower to cook for supper. Roll on bedtime!

Goats love weeds and nettles and brambles and ivy. Even the kids are enjoying a nibble.

In return for two nights in a barn bedroom he spent hours helping J put up runner bean frames and french bean wigwams.

Our lovely friend Heather, who walked these footpaths 40 years ago and obliged the council to mark and maintain them, passed away on Saturday morning at home surrounded by her family. She was a truly special woman. I never, ever saw her without a smile on her face even when she was feeling ill and undergoing treatment. Heather was a teacher and a headmistress, a practising Christian and a church warden. She ran community lunches in the village for those who were alone, old or isolated. She arranged fundraising fairs and games evenings. She was quietly involved in most of the activities in Colmworth. A good neighbour, friend, sister, wife, mother and grandmother. Her loss is keenly felt by her family and by everyone whose lives she touched and enriched. May her memory be for a blessing.